Crushed rock and sand stone operator O&G Industries is working with Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to build a bat cave–technically referred to as a “hibernaculum”–at its limestone quarry near the town of New Milford, Greenwich Time reported[3].

The hibernaculum will replace an abandoned mine shaft at the site that the bats currently hibernate in, and it will be one of few caves in the state that does not contain Geomyces destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome–which is often fatal–in bats.

The hibernaculum is still in its planning stages, as O&G is in the process of applying to a three-year extension on its mining permit.

Jenny Dickson, supervising wildlife biologist with DEEP, said O&G and the agency plan to build a new mine shaft to serve as a hibernaculum so as quarrying moves closer to the existing mine shaft over the next decade or two, the bats can rest undisturbed.